Media seeks to discredit Church, says Ratzinger

BY STAFF REPORTER
ONE OF THE most prominent figures in the Vatican has branded the media hysteria surrounding cases of clerical abuse as a deliberate attack on the Church.
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said this year's media coverage of clerical sex abuse scandals, particularly in the United States, seemed distorted and was an "intentional" effort to discredit the Church.
"In the United States, there is constant news on this topic, but less than one per cent of priests are guilty of acts of this type," he said in response to a reporter's question in Murcia, Spain, after speaking at a university conference.
"The constant presence of these news items does not correspond to the objectivity of the information or to the statistical objectivity of the facts," he said.
"Therefore, one comes to the conclusion that it is intentional, manipulated, that there is a desire to discredit the Church. It is a logical and wellfounded conclusion," he said.
Cardinal Ratzinger confirmed his reported remarks, with some small modifications, to the Washingtonbased Catholic News Service through his secretary this week.
"In the Church, priests are also sinners," he said. "But I am personally convinced that the constant presence in the press of the sins of Catholic priests, especially in the United States, a distortion of the reality because the percentage of these offences among nests is not higher than in other rateones, and perhaps it is even lower." The Cardinal's views match those f many in the English Church who ave criticised recent press coverage f some clerical sex abuse as unwarranted and unjustified.
Cardinal's defence: Page 3 Editorial Comment: Page 9